LeMond claims blackmail threat

The Floyd Landis hearing took a chaotic twist when his fellow American Tour de France champion Greg LeMond revealed that he had been sexually abused as a child and claimed the Landis camp had tried to use it as blackmail to stop him testifying.

LeMond told of a conversation he had with Landis after news of the latter's positive A-sample test from his 2006 Tour victory had been leaked to the press. LeMond urged Landis to admit his guilt if his back-up B urine sample was also tainted. He said he encouraged Landis to help his sport and "more importantly, help himself". He said he told Landis the story of being abused when he was six as an example of getting things out in the open.

On Wednesday, he said, he received a call from the mobile phone of Landis's manager, Will Geoghegan. "He said, 'I'll be there tomorrow and we can talk about how we used to hide your weenie'," LeMond said. "I thought this was intimidation to keep me from coming here." He filed a police report, which was presented as evidence at the hearing. Malibu sheriff's officials confirmed they were investigating.

Eddy Merckx has been called to testify at the Malibu hearing but refuses, saying he knows nothing about it. "I have nothing to say and therefore will not testify," he said. The five-times Tour winner was an adviser to Landis's Phonak Team, of which Merckx's son Axel was also a member.

A three-man panel will decide whether to uphold Landis's positive test. If it does he faces a two-year ban and may become the first person in the 104-year history of the Tour to have his title stripped for doping.